This is an analysis of the poem On Religion that begins with:

And an old priest said, 'Speak to us of Religion.'
And he said: ...

Elements of the verse: questions and answers

The information we provided is prepared by means of a special computer program. Use the criteria sheet to understand greatest poems or improve your poetry analysis essay.

  • Rhyme scheme: X a X b X c X X a b X c b b X d d c b X c b bXc
  • Stanza lengths (in strings): 1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,3,
  • Closest metre: trochaic pentameter
  • Сlosest rhyme: rondeau rhyme
  • Сlosest stanza type: tercets
  • Guessed form: unknown form
  • Metre: 111111010100 111 111001011 010101111010 11101011010101010011010001101011011101 111010100101001001010 1110100111011110111011110101110 11101111110101 1110010011011001010 011010111001 11101010110010011001 01011111110 11011000010010110011111000100111010101 1101011011010 01011000010111 1011011010101 011110001001101 10100110101101011101110 110111 10101011011011111010101101 1011110111010010 10101111111100110 11001111110001100010010101001 1111100101101100101
  • Amount of stanzas: 24
  • Average number of symbols per stanza: 72
  • Average number of words per stanza: 14
  • Amount of lines: 24
  • Average number of symbols per line: 73 (very long strings)
  • Average number of words per line: 14
  • Mood of the speaker:

    The punctuation marks are various. Neither mark predominates.

  • The author used lexical repetitions to emphasize a significant image; and, his, for, this, from, to, your, you, than, in, him, see are repeated.

    The poet used anaphora at the beginnings of some neighboring lines. The same words and, who are repeated.

    The author used the same words and, who at the beginnings of some neighboring stanzas. The figure of speech is a kind of anaphora.

If you write a school or university poetry essay, you should Include in your explanation of the poem:

  • summary of On Religion;
  • central theme;
  • idea of the verse;
  • history of its creation;
  • critical appreciation.

Good luck in your poetry interpretation practice!

More information about poems by Khalil Gibran